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Early-bird registration for Cohort V of the OSR Academy is now open.
Register by June 19 and save $1,000. Enrollment is limited to 25 students.
I stink at golf.
And the reason is obvious: I don’t practice it.
That’s fine, my golfing buddies tell me. Just play to have fun.
Unfortunately, I suffer from what experts call Competitive Stupidity Complex (CSC).
While I don’t practice golf and have no reason to expect to hit the ball straight, my mind races
back to my pre-kids life when I actually played often—and could break 100 every now and
again.
That’s what keeps you coming out to the links, my golfing buddies say. You always remember
how a great shot feels.
Not me.
All I feel is frustration.
Then rage.
Then a real need to locate the beer cart.
These feelings are ridiculous, I know.
Because I know what sales leaders do who are good at golf.
They upgrade clubs.
They read Golf Digest.
They track their scores.
They invest in coaching.
They study course management.
Why such effort?
Because golfers understand something essential: Improvement does not happen accidentally.
It was talking to sales leaders about the similarities between golf and sales that inspired the
launch of our new OSR Academy Yardage Guide—a golf-themed look at some of the
challenges that can derail sales performance.
(All the credit goes to my colleague Maddie Seaver, who manages the OSR Academy.)
Here are three holes every LBM sales professional should pay attention to.
Hole #3: NFPO Island
The best sales reps don’t lead with product or jump to solutions.
They start with what we call NFPOs.
Needs.
Fears.
Pains.
And Opportunities for growth.
The most prepared sales reps understand that before they recommend products or quote pricing, they ask better questions.
Better questions produce clearer answers, and clarity allows a rep to deliver value faster.
The best sales reps don’t pitch.
They don’t spray and pray.
They don’t guess.
They ask intelligent questions about NFPOs and determine how they can be useful.
Hole #10: Discovery Ridge
Too many sales calls fail because, to the prospect, they all sound the same.
Appreciate you making time for me.
How ‘bout them Knicks, huh?
Heading anywhere for vacation?
Want to know what actually builds rapport?
Helping a prospect see something within their business they hadn’t fully considered before.
In the OSR Academy we teach reps to explore a prospect’s Company, Customers, and Competitors—the “3 C’s” of deep discovery.
Understanding the interplay among all three provides context, uncovers non-obvious opportunities, and transforms these déjà vu sales conversations for both sides into strategic discussions.
Hole #18: Negotiation Line
Two things we’ve learned about LBM sales pros and negotiation:
1. While most reps have pricing authority and get paid on gross margin, few have been trained how to negotiate with intent.
2. Most reps believe negotiation is an event that happens at the end of the sales process, while negotiation is actually a journey that begins with the first conversation between a rep and a prospect.
Negotiation starts when you’re discovering needs, continues on while presenting options and alternatives, and is especially relevant when quantifying the impact of your solution.
Said another way: The best sales reps earn the right to their margin premium throughout the entire sales process.
The Difference Between Playing and Practicing
Nobody—even a hack like me—should expect to become a better golfer by simply accepting more offers to play in scrambles.
Serious golfers don’t leave it to chance.
Yet many organizations are hoping for sales growth while their reps spend most of their day firefighting, babysitting projects, responding to emails, and reacting to whatever drops in front of them.
And when the economic winds are at our back and home starts are up—like the years from 2013-2022—a lot of those weaknesses can be overlooked.
In softer markets, however, the lack of disciplined sales activity gets exposed.
That’s why we built the OSR Academy.
It’s a 12-month sales development program that positions home builders as the professors and includes our live, 2-day Sales Fundamentals Workshop.
It’s custom built for LBM sellers. It focuses on the practical skills required to generate new business: thoughtful preparation, differentiation, and a focus on profitability.
Because great sales teams don’t improve accidentally.
They train for it.
Cohort V of the OSR Academy launches this September.
If you’re passionate about growing sales, join us for the next round.
Register by tomorrow (June 19) and save $1,000.
| Thanks for reading. I’ll see you back here next week. |
Do you want a better way to get the information you need, so you can get back to serving people? Watch my recent webinar to see how GenetiQ helps make that happen.
As a reward for reading this far, I want to share the greatest golf monologue ever, courtesy of Carl Spackler in Caddyshack.
So, I tell them I’m a pro jock, and who do you think they give me? The Dalai Lama, himself. Twelfth son of the Lama. The flowing robes, the grace, bald. Striking.
So, I’m on the first tee with him. I give him the driver. He hauls off and whacks one—big hitter, the Lama—long, into a ten-thousand foot crevasse, right at the base of this glacier.
Do you know what the Lama says?
Gunga galunga… Gunga, gunga-galunga.
So, we finish the eighteenth and he’s gonna stiff me. And I say, “Hey, Lama, hey, how about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know.”
And he says, “Oh, uh, there won’t be any money, but when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness.”
So I got that going for me, which is nice.
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Bradley Hartmann & Co.
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Contact Bradley Hartmann:
bradley@bradleyhartmannandco.com
The Craft of LBM Sales 